All in The Family: More Obama Campaign Hypocrisy- Marco Rubio

8 Aug 2012

Earlier this week, the Committee for Justice (CFJ), released a video in conjunction with Breitbart News, kicking off an effort to hold President Barack Obama to account for his hypocrisy on political campaigning. The CFJ video chronicled Obama’s troubling evolution on super PACs and donor disclosure, as well as the re-election campaign’s embrace of controversial Media Matters boss David Brock through a formal fundraising partnership. But, President Obama’s hypocrisy vis-a-vis David Brock doesn’t stop there.

In 2007, candidate Obama told reporters at a Waterloo, Iowa campaign stop that he did “not want to see research that is involved in trying to tear people down personally . . . If I find out that somebody is doing that, they will be fired. And I have been absolutely crystal clear about this . . . It’s contrary to the kind of message of change that I’ve been talking about on this campaign.”

What a difference an election cycle makes. Given some of the activities undertaken by American Bridge 21st Century, the David Brock-run super PAC partnered with Obama’s Priorities USA super PAC – headed by former Obama White House official Bill Burton and blessed by Obama campaign manager Jim Messina – one wonders what happened to President Obama’s principled wrath against personal attacks.

One of American Bridge’s favorite targets to date has been possible vice presidential candidate and junior Republican Senator from Florida Marco Rubio. In a 73-second web video released in October 2011, Brock’s super PAC alleged that the junior senator had fabricated his family biography on a website for political gain. In truth, a memoir authored by Rubio fully explains the discrepancy in his accounts of his family history and immigration documents.

One must wonder how American Bridge’s allegations comport with candidate Obama’s pledge of clean, substance-based campaigning. In alleging that Rubio lied about his family history for political gain, the thuggish Brock and his goons compound their sins by implicating Rubio’s family in wrongdoing. With its habit of personal attacks on candidates’ families, the professional left discourages qualified conservatives from running for office or even participating in the political process — President Obama’s insistence that families be off-limits in campaigns notwithstanding.

What a nice family you have. It would be a shame if someone dragged their names through the mud.

Bragging to its donors, American Bridge takes credit for the hit on Rubio, gleefully linking on their website to articles in The Hill, Yahoo! News, and USA Today that explicitly credit the super PAC with fomenting the Rubio controversy.

Was candidate Obama serious in 2007 when he said he would fire researchers trying to tear people down personally? As we wrote on Monday, if President Obama is serious about his rhetoric on principled political campaigning, he should denounce David Brock and tell Obama super PAC Priorities USA to immediately dissolve its formal fundraising agreement with Brock’s American Bridge. Otherwise it will be hard for him to shed his Nixonian moment.